Summary:
- Lady Justices Irene Mulyagonja, Eva Luswata, and Justice Christopher Gashirabake found that the 35-year jail term handed to Simon Monday was excessive.
KABALE: The Court of Appeal sitting in Kabale District on Tuesday reduced a 35-year term handed to a 38-year-old man for defiling his 10-year-old biological daughter to 30 years.
Lady Justices Irene Mulyagonja, Eva Luswata, and Justice Christopher Gashirabake found that the 35-year jail term handed to Simon Monday was excessive. On February 29, 2016, Monday was found guilty by then Kabale High Court Judge Michael Elubu and jailed for 35 years for defiling his 10-year-old biological daughter.
Court was told that between January and August 2013, while in Ntungamo village, Kanungu District, Simon Monday repeatedly had sexual intercourse with his biological daughter, who was less than 14 years old at the time. Monday, dissatisfied with the sentence, appealed through his lawyer, Felix Bakanyebonera, arguing that the 35-year sentence was harsh and excessive.
Grace Nabaggala Ntege, the Chief State Attorney, told the court that the maximum sentence for the crime is death. She argued that the 35-year sentence handed down by the trial judge was lenient, considering that Monday was the biological father, who was 38 years old at the time he repeatedly defiled his own daughter.
Nabaggala emphasized that the victim was repeatedly defiled in their home, where she should have been safe, and was threatened with death if she told anyone.
In their unanimous decision, Lady Justices Irene Mulyagonja, Eva Luswata, and Justice Christopher Gashirabake, in a ruling read by Justice Christopher Gashirabake in court in Kabale, stated that the trial judge had taken all considerations into account.
After thorough deliberations, the court ruled that a 33-year jail sentence was appropriate, with the three years that Monday had been on remand to be deducted, resulting in a 30-year sentence.
The hearing continues today (Wednesday), with six more cases to be heard.
